Longtime Chatham-Kent councillor Bryon Fluker is disappointed, but not bitter about not being re-elected for another term Monday night.
He's one of two long-serving councillors who will be replaced on Chatham-Kent council in December after Monday night's municipal election.
Fluker has served on council in some form representing Tilbury for over 40 years, first being elected in 1972. Fluker said with the success he has had in elections it was disappointing, but he wasn't shocked, either.
"I was up against some really high-quality candidates and I knew that going into the election," Fluker said. "Certainly there was some things I still wanted to do, but I'm sure they'll get done in the next four to six years here in the West Kent-Tilbury area."
Fluker believed the fact he served for so long contributed to him losing, saying in his mind, voters wanted to see new people elected. He said there was, and still is, no animosity between the candidates at all.
"I still don't have any hard feelings as they were quality candidates that won," Fluker said. "Again, I am disappointed that I wasn't successful, but that's politics. That's what happens."
Fluker added he doesn't have many regrets and wouldn't have changed much about his campaign. He said the only thing he would have done differently was getting more involved in social media. According to Fluker, he focused more on the classic "knocking on doors" strategy and talking to voters face-to-face.
As for what's next, Fluker said it is still too soon to say, but advised the new council to be open-minded. He added with the number of councillors at the table, they are going to hear a lot of opinions.
"There certainly was disagreements and there certainly wasn't 18-0 votes all the time," Fluker said. "I enjoyed the people though and that's probably what I will miss the most. The people and certainly the administration and councillors is what I am going to miss the most."
Another longtime councillor who didn't get re-elected was Frank Vercouteren. He was first elected to council in 1980 and has been representing the Blenheim-area every since, only taking three years off between 1990-1993.
Vercouteren could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.